black, then reddish, lastly fire was seen, and presently the whole
edifice was involved in flames.

All had seen hideous-looking men, covered with rags, and women
resembling furies, wandering among these flames. These wretches,
intoxicated with wine and with the success of their crimes, no longer
took any pains to conceal themselves: they proceeded in triumph through
the blazing streets; they were caught, armed with torches, striving to
spread the conflagration; and it was necessary to strike down their
hands with sabres to oblige them to loose their hold. It was said that
these banditti had been let loose from the prisons by the Russian
generals for the express purpose of burning the city; and that, in fact,
a resolution so extreme could only have been conceived by patriotism,
and executed by guilt.

Orders were immediately issued to shoot all the incendiaries on the
spot. The army was on foot. The Old Guard, which exclusively occupied
one part of the Kremlin, was under arms: the baggage, and the horses
ready loaded, filled the courts; we were struck dumb with astonishment,
surprise, and disappointment at witnessing the destruction of such
admirable quarters. Though masters of Moscow, we were forced to go and
bivouac,[147] without provisions, outside its gates.

While our troops were yet struggling with the conflagration, and
disputing their prey with the flames, Napoleon, whose sleep none had
dared to disturb during the night, was awakened by the twofold light of
day and of the burning city. His first feeling was that of irritation,
and he would have stayed the devouring element by the breath of his
command; but he soon paused, and yielded to impossibility. Surprised
that when he had struck at the heart of an empire he should find there
any other sentiment than that of abject submission, he felt himself
vanquished, and surpassed in heroic determination.

This conquest, for which he had sacrificed everything, was like a
phantom which he had eagerly pursued, and, at the moment when he
imagined he had grasped it, he saw it vanish from him in a mingled mass
of smoke and flame. He was then seized with extreme agitation: he
seemed, as it were, consumed by the fires which were around him. He rose
every moment from his seat, paced to and fro, and again sat abruptly
down. He traversed his apartments with hurried steps: his sudden and
vehement gestures betrayed a painful uneasiness; he quitted, resumed,
and again as suddenl